


Crashing Down

by Stennerd



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Bobby can't help but see his team as his family, Buck has some revelations while he was down there with Eddie, Eddie is a good partner, Eddie is only lucky because of Buck, Even if it puts him at risk, Ever since Devon Buck wants to save everyone, Hurt Eddie Diaz, Hurt Evan "Buck" Buckley, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, They will be alright, and also a protector, buck is a good firefighter, they have an important chat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22702384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stennerd/pseuds/Stennerd
Summary: “The house is too unstable to go back in.”“Bobby, there’s still a little girl in there, I’m not just going to leave her behind!” Buck wrenches his arm out of Bobby’s grasp and charges back inside, ignoring Bobby’s shouts.Eddie turns to Bobby with a brief apologetic shrug, “Sorry Cap,” and chases after Buck, disappearing through the smoke haze.***Or the team thinks the worst when the house fire they were called to collapses with Buck and Eddie still inside.
Relationships: Eddie Diaz (9-1-1) & Bobby Nash, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Eddie Diaz, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Comments: 8
Kudos: 401





	1. Chapter 1

_“The house is too unstable to go back in.”_

_“Bobby, there’s still a little girl in there, I’m not just going to leave her behind!” Buck wrenches his arm out of Bobby’s grasp and charges back inside, ignoring Bobby’s shouts._

_Eddie turns to Bobby with a brief apologetic shrug, “Sorry Cap,” and chases after Buck, disappearing through the smoke haze._

That was the last time Bobby saw either of them before the house completely collapsed in on itself no more than 5 minutes later. His immediate instinct was to panic which he had to aggressively push aside in order to do his job and get his boys out.

“Buckley, Diaz. Do you copy?” Both Hen and Chim pause at what they are doing, waiting for any response. Their radios stay quiet. Thunder cracks above them and the clouds open up to a heavy downpour, effectively helping put out the flames burning through the wooden debris from the two-story house.

Eddie! Buck! Please respond!” Fear now taints his words as the implication of the silence sets in. Hen and Chim move closer, hovering beside him as they wait for any kind of sign that Buck and Eddie were fine. Spurred by the lack of response, Bobby retrieves the PASS locator from the truck to determine where they might have ended up. Both of their icons remain stationary, appearing as though the were directly in the middle of the building when it came down.

“Dispatch, this is Captain Bobby Nash of the 118, requesting additional vehicles for structure collapse extraction. We have two firefighters buried and unresponsive with a civilian deep under debris.”

“118, this is dispatch. We have two trucks and ambulances en route to your location. ETA 8 minutes.”

With rain streaming down his visor, Bobby now with a plan of action, starts directing his team. “Alright, this is a search and rescue mission now. It looks like they were both together in the middle of the house when it came down. We need to start clearing a path to that spot.”

The crew starts preparing the winches from the trucks to hook onto the larger, surprisingly intact beams and move them out of the way. Bobby looks to the heavens and says a quick prayer, hoping that the boys are alright.

Surprisingly a lot of the roof appeared intact, most of it had fallen as one whole unit. Another shocking revelation as they continued to clear their way to Buck and Eddie’s location, was that not a whole lot of the structure itself had been burned. Sure, there were many wooden portions burnt to a crisp but there were also large splintered beams of wood, almost as if the fire weakened the wood and the weight of the roof itself is what brought it all crashing down. Bobby doesn’t have time to dwell on it properly, but he does save that thought for later inspection.

Right now, all his thoughts are to find the missing members of their team. He briefly looks at the locator again, hoping that there was some, any, indication that they were alive. Neither of the beacons appeared to have moved since he checked the first time. Hen and Chim both glance in his direction when he does this, and he gives them a small shake of his head. They both share a look before renewing their efforts at clearing the smaller debris.

A cry breaks through the drumming of the rain. The parents from the house had not yet been taken to the hospital, both of them had woken up after being extracted from the house and were only suffering from smoke inhalation. The mother having now just discovered that her daughter was unaccounted for, was racing from the ambulance in an attempt to get to the house. Bobby catches her before she gets too close.

“My daughter is in there! I have to find her!” She struggles against his arms, but Bobby holds steady.

“Ma’am, we had two firefighters in the building looking for her when it collapsed. We are doing everything we can to find her and them. If they have her, she’s as safe as she can be right now.”

The woman sags against his arms as the gravity of the situation hits home. He looks over to her partner, who had been trailing behind her when she left the ambulance. “What’s your daughter’s name?”

“Georgia. She’s seven.”

“Alright, we are going to do everything we can to get Georgia back to you. Now I need you back in the ambulance to get treated. Both of you were unconscious when we pulled you out and I’m sure you would benefit from some oxygen to help with the smoke inhalation.” He leads them back to the ambulance and directs them both to sit down as a paramedic from one of the trucks that had joined them maneuvered some oxygen masks for them to wear while they waited.

Bobby moves back to the scene. With the two additional trucks, they have made short work of clearing most of the debris, including the roof. As they start moving one of the largest intact beams, Hen and Chim’s heads whip around to look at him as his radio crackles to life, wide-eyed with hope as they hear what he does.

“…ap…the basement…protected…stop…shifting…getting unstable…”

“Everyone stop what you are doing! Don’t move anything else.”

“Buck! Buck is that you? Is Eddie with you? Your radio is breaking up.” There’s a long pause as they wait for any kind of answer.

“I got Eddie’s…radio mine must be busted from the fall…We’re…up against the main supporting wall in the basement but…whatever you’ve started moving up there has a domino effect of what’s down here and our space is getting smaller.” Concern wells up in him as he hears a loud groan from Buck before he continues, sounding even more breathless, “…Bobby…there’s a steady stream…of rain coming from…I think…the front left corner of the house…you might be able to get someone down through that…”

“Alright, Buck I hear you.” He motions for everyone to focus their efforts in the area described by Buck before turning his attention back to his youngest firefighter.

“Buck, what’s your status? Is Eddie with you? Do you have Georgia?”

“We…have…Georgia…s-she’s okay…awake…Eddie is…unconscious. Head…wound…I think.” A strained huff of breath punctuating his words causes Bobby’s heart to clench in worry.

“And you?”

“… … …”

“Buck!”

“… B-Broken…ribs…p-punctured…lung…Bobby…I c-can’t…bout…to…p-pass out…”

“Buck come on, stay awake. We’ve got someone on their way down now.”

“… …”

“Damn it.” Bobby focuses all his attention back on the winch that they have set up and the paramedics that were just about to buckle in their harnesses.

“Both men are unconscious, one with suspected head trauma and the other with broken ribs and a punctured lung. They have a seven year old girl with them. Last report she was awake and unharmed. Let’s stabilise them and get them out as quickly as possible.” They both nod in confirmation and start to rappel down together with a backboard held between them.

It’s a waiting game from here as they wait for the first of them to be brought back to the surface. With nothing else to do, Bobby heads back to the anxious parents awaiting news.

“They had her with them when the house collapsed. From what I’ve been told she’s awake and okay. She’ll be coming up any minute now.” The mother lets out a quiet sob and latches onto her husband, hope shining in her unshed tears.

Commotion around the winch draws all their attention, they’re bringing someone up. It’s little Georgia buckled into a harness, covered in smudges of ash. Immediately running to her parents after spotting them as soon as her feet were on solid ground. They sandwich her between them tearfully in a desperate hug. Peering over her daughter’s head her mother mouthes a ‘thank you’ to Bobby before turning her full attention back to Georgia.

Bobby leaves them to their reunion, happy that she practically unharmed after the whole ordeal. They don’t have to wait long before the next person being brought up was Buck himself looking worse than how he sounded on the radio. Against all odds, he was somehow semi-conscious, groggily asking about Eddie. Bobby was quick to reassure him that Eddie was on his way up and won’t be far behind him. 

The paramedic explains as they wheel him to the ambulance, he regained some level of consciousness as soon as they relieved the air pressure around his lungs, proving that Buck’s self-diagnosis was indeed correct. Bobby gives Buck a soft pat on the arm, telling him that he’ll see him at the hospital before letting the ambulance take him away.

As soon as he was gone, Bobby refocuses on the last remaining patient. Eddie. Just being brought up by the winch now, heavily strapped into a backboard and covered in soot. He is still unconscious, helmet missing but looking relatively unscathed aside from the bandaged currently wrapped around his head.

As soon as he is loaded up, Bobby checks in with the other captains, who immediately give him the all clear to head out and leave them to finish up. He shakes both their hands in thanks before rallying up the 118 crew to grab their gear and move out. As they head back to the station, Bobby contacts the Chief explaining the situation and receives approval to end their shift early. Everyone was quick to clear out of the station as soon as they arrived back, eager to head to the hospital.

Shaking his head as he gets in his own car, Bobby wonders how many more grey hairs he’s gotten from today.


	2. Chapter 2

The sound of beeping is what breaks through the heavy fog of sleep. From its constant presence, all he can think is that his alarm sounded different to what it usually does. Maybe he changed the sound without realising it. He reaches over to where it would be to shut it off, but his motion is stopped with a strong pinching sensation in the back of his hand.

“Eddie?” That voice. He recognises that voice. Someone that he knows, someone that he trusts. Eddie furrows his brow trying to place it.

“Eddie, I need you to open your eyes.” It’s a command. Something that he’s been trained to follow. In a mammoth effort, he pries his eyes open only to immediately shut them again, the bright light above his head piercing his skull. He hears footsteps of someone moving away from beside him and then a recognisable click of a light switch could be heard before the person returns back to his side and takes his hand.

“Try again.”

He does, not seeing much at first except blurry shadows. Blinking a few more times, the blurry shape holding his hand slowly turns vaguely into the shape of a person he recognises.

“Bobby?” His voice not sounding like his own croaks past his chapped lips.

“That’s right. Hold on a minute, I’m going to find a doctor, tell them that you're awake.” He gently squeezes his hand before disappearing out of view. While he waits in the quiet room Eddie notices that he can hear more than one set of beeping machines and he turns his head to his right. Squinting a little in the darkness, it takes him a long moment to recognise the person beside him.

It’s Buck. Asleep or at least he thinks he’s asleep, frustratingly he can’t quite make out many details. It doesn’t surprise him that they would give them a room together, especially if they have the same visitors. He’s glad, really he is, especially since the last thing he remembered the ground was falling out beneath them both. A set of footsteps brings him from his thoughts alerting him of Bobby’s return, followed closely by the doctor.

“Mr. Diaz, it’s very good to see that you're awake. How are you feeling?”

Eddie winces and brings his hand to run his fingers over the bandage wrapped around his head, “Feels like I’ve been hit over the head with a ton of bricks and my back kind of aches.”

The doctor nods, "You’ve been in the hospital unconscious for four hours with a head injury from your accident. You’re lucky that it is localised to your occipital lobe, so you might experience blurred vision or blind spots for a couple of days as your brain recovers. Do you remember what happened?”

“I remember going back into the house after Cap told us not to and carrying the little girl to the stairs but after that, nothing.”

"That’s good, it doesn’t seem like the injury has affected your memory. In saying that we are going to keep you under observation for the next few days to ensure there isn’t any delayed secondary swelling.” She writes something down on the clipboard at the end of his bed before placing it back. 

Eddie nods, wincing, hearing her words but not really taking in the information and looks over to Bobby who gives him a reassuring smile.

“Really, you were very lucky that it was the only major injury from the fall, unlike Mr. Buckley. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some other patients to check on.” And with that she was gone, closing the door behind her.

Fear flares up in his gut and Eddie takes Bobby’s hand urgently in a vice grip, “What did she mean ‘unlike Mr. Buckley?’”

Bobby sighs and glances over his shoulder at the sleeping man. “Buck had a collapsed lung, 2 broken ribs, 4 bruised ribs, bruised his liver and sprained his wrist. They had to put in a chest tube to help reinflate his lung. He’s been asleep for a couple of hours waiting for you to wake up.”

Satisfied with his answer, but unhappy with the situation, Eddie releases his grip on Bobby’s hand and rubs at his eyes in hopes to distract him from the building headache coming from the back of his head.

“Christopher?”

“I called your aunt on the way here. She’s going to pick him up and look after him tonight and bring him by in the morning.”

“Thanks, Bobby.” Eddie sighs and lets his hand fall back down on the bed, exhausted despite only being awake for a short time.

Recognising that Eddie needed some rest, Bobby gets up and places a hand on Eddie’s shoulder, drawing his attention.

“I’ll tell the rest of the team that you’re awake and let you get some sleep. We’ll come back in the morning.” Eddie nods in response and watches him leave, shutting the door behind him.

Eddie lies there with his eyes closed, listening to both of the heart rate monitors beep out of sync and hopes that they might lull him into sleep. He lets out a heavy sigh after what he thinks is hours later, still no closer to falling asleep than when Bobby left. His worry for Buck overriding his need for sleep. 

“Eddie?”

“Buck?” Eddie shifts his head and faces Buck, still not able to make out the details of his face. “You’re awake?’

“I was never asleep.”

Frowning, Eddie can tell there’s more to what he’s saying than not sleeping. Squinting, he can see that Buck was staring up at the ceiling. “What do you mean?”

Buck turns his head to face him, “Eddie. I was awake through all of it.”

His voice is thick with pain, but he keeps going, letting it all come rushing out, “I remember the stairs giving out from under our feet and us falling. Your helmet came off and you hit your head on the way down, but you were still holding on to Georgia, so I tried to get hold of you before we hit the ground because you wouldn’t have been able to do it yourself. And well, you – um,“ Buck stutters, not wanting to tell Eddie what happened next.

“What Buck?”

Buck hedges, “Um, well I did catch you.”

“Buck,” He draws out warningly. 

“Okay um, when I caught you, well, the ground caught me,” Buck says quickly and continues to watch him, trying to gauge his reaction. Eddie stays silent, processing the information, not sure how he feels about it. It explains why his back was sore, his oxygen tank would have been trapped between them. What he can’t decide is whether he should blame himself for hurting someone he cared about or be thankful that Buck saved him from an even worse injury.

“Eddie that's not all of it. There’s something I need to tell you.” Eddie props himself up with a pillow, curiosity plainly clear on his face.

“Just so you know I would never, could never, blame you for me getting hurt, that was my choice and, given the chance, I would do it again in a heartbeat. Besides, it was my fault we were still in the house when it came down in the first place.” He chuckles a little, which turned into groans of pain as the chest tube jostles with the movement.

“I was so scared. When we were down there, unable to tell the team that we were alive when the debris started moving and falling around us, I thought for sure we were going to be buried alive. And then I was able to get through to Bobby, but then I couldn’t breathe and my vision was starting to go dark. All I could think about was that you were unconscious, and I was never going to get the chance to tell you.”

Buck falls silent after that, leaving Eddie no closer to knowing what exactly he wanted to say.

“Tell me what?”

He averts his gaze, focusing instead on the ceiling tiles, “I don’t know if I should say it now. I thought we were going to die, but now we’re not so… yeah, I don’t want to make things weird between us while we’re stuck together.”

Eddie thinks for a moment, choosing his words carefully, “Tell me or don’t tell me that’s up to you. I won’t force it, but just so you know that whatever it is I’ll always be here.”

The room becomes quiet after that with both patients becoming lost in their own thoughts. Eddie was finally starting to doze when hears the soft whisper.

“I think I’m in love with you, Eddie," That wakes him up and he jerks his head up enough to make his vision blur, "I think I've known it for a while but I didn't know what to call it. But seeing you there, lifeless and not answering me, I just knew.” 

Buck was looking at him again, trying to figure out what he’s thinking. And honestly, Eddie isn’t sure what he thinks. Maybe he’s dreaming, and this is just his concussion telling him what he’s been wanting to hear ever since he found out Buck did everything he could to save Christopher in the tsunami. Either way, he’s going to tell him the truth.

Eddie shuffles over in his bed so that he’s practically squashed up against the rail and reaches out his hand to Buck.

“Well, that’s funny cause I think I’ve been falling for my best friend for a while.”

Buck looks down at his hand then back to his face, a multitude of emotions flitting across his features before settling on a confused frown.

“I’m not hallucinating right now, am I? Y-you, don't hate me?" 

Eddie grins at him, “No you’re not hallucinating and I could never hate you. In fact, I'm pretty sure I feel the opposite of hate right now." 

Buck snakes his arm through the rail and takes hold of Eddie’s hand, intertwining their fingers and running his thumb back and forth over Eddie’s. They stay like that for the rest of the night, staring into each other’s eyes until the events of the day finally catch up to them and Buck starts drifting off, unable to fight the weight of his eyelids anymore.

Eddie follows soon after, but not before uttering a soft, "I love you too." 

** ** **

Just like Bobby promised, the team comes by to visit them in the morning and find them still hand in hand and peacefully asleep. They share a knowing look between them and quietly leave, no doubt planning to get the full story when they wake up. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading xx


End file.
